Joe Biden’s predecessor is making his digital comeback. The 45th President of the United States, Donald Trump, will be able to return to Facebook and Instagram. Their parent company Meta has just announced via a press release that it will reactivate its accounts in the coming weeks.
A long expertise of the political and social context
These had been suspended in January 2021 after the invasion of the Capitol during the final proclamation of the results of the presidential election. The president then in office had praised on social networks the militants engaged in this attack. The indefinite suspension of Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts had been submitted to the Oversight Council, which then upheld the decision while criticizing its unlimited nature. The sanction had therefore been modified for a review after two years.
24 months later, Meta therefore took over the case to decide on a possible extension of his punishment, triggering “examination of the conduct of the 2022 United States midterm elections, as well as expert assessments of the current security environment”. Based on the expert’s findings, the Menlo Park group today determined that “the risk has gone far enough”. Donald Trump’s accounts will therefore soon be reactivated.
“The normal state of affairs is that the public can once again hear from a former President of the United States and a declared candidate for that office on our platforms. The public should be able to hear what politicians say, the good, the bad and the ugly, so they can make informed choices at the ballot box”justifies Meta.
However, if Donald Trump were to violate Instagram and Facebook’s Community Rules, he would face greater penalties. The group led by Mark Zuckerberg raises the possibility of using the shadow banning, a technique that narrows the reach of some posts. Trump’s problematic posts would thus become much less viral.
“Such a thing should never again happen to a sitting president or anyone else who does not deserve punishment”reacted for his part the suitor declared to the White House on his social network Truth Social, reports BFM.
